If you aren’t sure why you just can’t seem to drop weight then maybe here is your answer!. These researchers have found that weekends are the answer to many of the worlds “dieting problems.”
They found that study subjects on strict diet and exercise programs tend to lose weight more slowly than expected because they eat more on weekends than during the week. The investigators report their findings in the advance online publication of the journal Obesity.
“We thought weekends would present a problem for some people attempting to lose weight, but the consistency of our finding before and during the interventions was surprising,” says first author Susan B. Racette, Ph.D., assistant professor of physical therapy and of medicine. “Subjects in the diet group lost weight during the week, but over the weekend, they stopped losing weight because they were eating more.”
Study participants were divided into three groups: the first lowered their daily calorie intake by 20 percent, a second increased daily physical activity by 20 percent, and a third, control group did not change diet or activity levels. All three groups were monitored for one year. They kept food diaries, tracked exercise with accelerometers and were weighed regularly. Racette says people in the study didn’t always realize they were eating significantly more food on weekends.
“It was surprising how consistent the findings were,” she says. “We also were surprised by the dramatic way in which weekends continued to slow weight loss throughout the course of the study.”
Before the interventions began, the researchers established “baselines” for each study participant’s exercise and eating habits. This pre-intervention data determined that participants consumed the most calories on Saturdays. An average of 36 percent of their total calories came from fat on Saturdays, but less than 35 percent came from fat during the rest of the week. The typical weekend weight gain before the diet and exercise interventions began would have led to an average increase of 9 pounds a year.
“People on diets often don’t lose as much weight as we would expect, and this finding helps to explain why,” she says.
“Planning ahead can’t be emphasized enough,” Racette says. She recommends packing healthy food if you’re running errands, eating a little something so you aren’t starving when you arrive at a party, even packing a light lunch before going to the kids’ ballgames so that you have a choice other than junk food at a concession stand.
“In addition, she says, “paying closer attention to portion sizes can enable a person to enjoy the weekend without sabotaging weight-control efforts (source).”
If you want to be successful in your weight loss endeavors then make sure that you keep track of your weekends and be consistent with your goals.
Adria Ali
(CES, PES, CPT, BS)
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